Pepe Oriola focused on battle with Stefano Comini

Pepe Oriola came third in today’s qualifying in Monza, Italy. Although the Spaniard was not able to use any slipstream from his team-mates, he managed to be quite close to Target Competition’s Stefano Comini, who is also his main rival for the championship.

“We were hoping to play slipstreaming tactics,” admitted the Craft-Bamboo Lukoil driver. “It didn’t work out because the Target Competition boys were just behind us, and there was no point giving Stefano (Comini) a six-car tow, so we pitted, and the plan was absolutely compromised. In the end I did the lap on my own, trying my best, and I finished third, so overall I am quite satisfied, the performance was there. On the other hand I wish we could have done it, but we are new to each other as team-mates, so we need to improve that. Hopefully in Salzburg (at the next race) it will be possible to play these tactics.”

Talking about tomorrow’s race, Oriola thinks a win will be impossible, and will instead focus on a hard but fair fight with fellow SEAT driver Comini: “We knew from yesterday’s test session we would have been behind the Honda. The car is better on fast tracks, such as Shanghai, so it is what we expected. I hope we will finish the race, unlike in Portimao, and have a good fight in the process.

I tried to stay in Honda’s Kevin Gleason’s slipstream in Free Practice this morning, but it was impossible to gain anything, so I don’t think there is much we can do, there’s no way to overtake.”

Talking about Race 2, Oriola thinks Morbidelli will actually score a double win, and is more focused on the race between himself and Comini: “As in Shanghai it will not be easy with Gianni, he will just overtake on the straight. Race 2 I will try to stay in front of Stefano, it will be difficult to try to overtake and keep him behind. In TCR the second race gives as many points as the first, so I will not go too crazy about overtaking him (Comini) as in the second heat it will be the other way round.

Points are very important, and with the balance of performance and the success ballast it is very difficult to gain a huge points advantage, so we need each and every point because it will be very important come Macau.”

The points gap went up by one point between championship leader Comini and Oriola, who is now 16 points shy of the lead.